Distinguished Alumni

Roy Shoffner

Roy Shoffner, Jr. came to LMU after graduating from Middlesboro High School in 1946 and graduated in 1950 with a major in English. He served as a pilot in the United States Air Force and upon discharge, returned to Middlesboro where he was a successful businessman in many different ventures.

These ventures include: starting his own plastic pipe manufacturing company, the Drua-Lina Corporation; four Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants, located in Middlesboro, Harlan, Cumberland, Kentucky and Tazewell, Tennessee; owner of the Shoffner Gulf Service; Director of the National Bank; and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Middlesboro Federal Savings and Loan Company.

Roy brought Middlesboro and the area to the attention of the national media in 1992. He financed an expedition to bring a World War II P-38 fighter plane out of the ice in Greenland where the downed plane had rested since July of 1942. This plane is also referred to as the “Glacier Girl” because Shoffner rescued it from under 268 feet of snow in Greenland.